The American Guerrillas of Mindanao

. . . remembering yesterday's heroes today

TheAGOM.org


The American Guerrillas of MindanaoWelcome to the American Guerrillas of Mindanao (AGOM) website. This site has been established to provide a means to put out information on those veterans of the Phillipine campaign of World War II, and in particular those that fought on the island of Mindanao. We will use this site as a platform for news of AGOM events as well as an electronic archive of photos, documents and written histories of the experiences of those veterans.

If you have documents, photos, or any other anything perinent to this effort please send a copy to me at America1@AmericanGuerrillasofMindanao.org or you can mail items to me at: Mark Chapman, 2490 Valley Road, Navarre, FL 32566. Documents will be returned to sender upon request.

You may also have noticed that there are two paths to this website: Point your browser at www.TheAGOM.org or www.AmericanGuerrillasOfMindanao.org.

Sincerely,

Mark D. Chapman
Webmaster

August/September 2008 Newsletter


The annual meeting of the American Guerrillas of Mindanao and the AGOM Descendants Group was held on 8 May 2008, during the annual convention of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor in Louisville, KY. The meeting was called to order at 4:05 pm. AGOMers Luke Campeau and Gerry Chapman called the meeting to order. Frances Campeau and Kay Chapman, Jim Chapman, Marie Vallejo and Ginger and Kent Holmes were also present. The AGOM Descendants Group’s vice president, David Evans, had planned to attend but had to cancel due to press of other business.

Luke, having experienced a few physical setbacks early in the year, expressed happiness at being able to come to Louisville because it gave him and Frances the opportunity to visit with their son Matthew and his family.

We welcomed Gerry and Kay’s son Jim to the meeting while his wife Veronica attended various convention functions to meet and chat with as many ADBC members as possible.

A newcomer to the descendants group who made a special trip to meet the AGOMers was Marie Valllejo. Her father, Saturnino Reyes, was a Filipino/American living in California during WWII who was recruited and subsequently underwent specialized training in Australia’s Camp Tabragalba as part of the Philippine Regional Section of the Allied Intelligence Bureau. He led one of several teams dubbed “mission men” that were infiltrated into Mindanao to mingle with the local populace and gather and report intelligence. Execution of these secret missions was a closely guarded secret and Marie had spent many months at both Carlisle Barracks and the MacArthur Archives researching records for information about her father’s activities on Mindanao, with little success.

During the meeting it was proposed and seconded by AGOMers that The American Guerrillas of Mindanao Descendants Group be designated the official name of the organization and application for 501(c)(3) status be initiated.

The amount in the AGOM treasury was reported at $1,670. (Thanks to donations from Bruce Smith and Marie Vallejo, the total in our treasury now stands at $1,760.)

Other topics of discussion at the meeting included current plans to centralize and organize AGOM documents. Jim Chapman offered to work with his brother Mark, our webmaster, to formulate a plan to digitalize the documents as well.

The meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.

The AGOM group enjoyed the amenities of Louisville and participated in ADBC convention activities. The luncheon cruise on the Ohio River aboard the stern wheel steamboat “Spirit of Jefferson” was delightful. Convention attendees were also invited to Churchill Downs for an afternoon of horse racing. The sixth race was dedicated to the ADBC and Luke and Gerry represented AGOM in that group. (Gerry took some great pictures – watch for them on TheAGOM.org website soon.)

The banquet at the end of the convention was an enjoyable affair. Ruth and Debby Stahl (who had taken the opportunity to tour several places of interest around Kentucky) joined us, and also Luke and Fran’s son Matthew, his wife Margie and their children Jarrid, Clara Rose, Gracie and Ely. The monkey-and-banana-tree centerpiece that has become an AGOM tradition graced their table.

“Hello, Hollywood calling – again!!!” Robert Towne, screenwriter and producer (“Chinatown”), is working on a project on Wendell Fertig and his activities as commander of the Tenth Military District. Towne seems determined to make his screenplay as authentic as possible and I provided him with names and phone numbers of AGOMers – he has spoken at length with many of them. I also sent him a copy of a 1941 map of Mindanao to acquaint him with the various locales mentioned in the book, They Fought Alone, by John Keats. It would be great if a movie is produced about Fertig and the true-to-life experiences of AGOMers, who were “they” in They Fought Alone.

Congressional Watch: Currently before our congress is legislation “to require the payment of compensation to members of the Armed Forces and civilian employees of the United States who were forced to perform slave labor by the Imperial Government of Japan or by corporations of Japan during World War II, or the surviving spouses of such members, and for other purposes.” S. 3107, sponsored by Senators Jeff Bingaman and Orrin Hatch, was referred to the Committee of Finance in June. A similar bill, H.R. 6497, sponsored by Representative Darlene Hooley, went to the House Ways and Means Committee in July. Too little, too late???